Runaway School Bus
Location: St. Louis, Missouri Date: October 3, 1995 Story Around 7am on October 3, 1995, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dawn Little was driving her sons, 10-year-old Larry and 8-year-old Jerrick, to the school bus stop. "This day the kids were running behind schedule and so was I," said Dawn. They were trying to convince her to drive them to school but she told them, "You have to be at school at a certain time and I have to be at work so I need you to get on the bus." Reluctantly, they said, "Okay," but they went. Larry and Jerrick rode the bus with 18 other children to Bellerive Elementary School each day. Larry was sitting three rows behind the driver, 42-year-old Ernestine Blackman. "It's funny, Larry was actually complaining about where the driver had assigned him to sit," Dawn explained. As the bus was going down a highway, the children were making a lot of noise because of all the fun they were having and Ernestine told them to quiet down because she had a headache. She starting feeling strange and then slumped out of her seat. The bus began to zigzag across the busy highway this way and that, and the children began to scream in horror. Larry got out of his seat and stopped the runaway bus. Tom Middlebrown was driving on the same highway on his way to work when he spotted the bus. He could hear the children screaming and stopped to help. He summoned for someone to open the door and Larry did so. He found Ernestine unconscious and the children frightened. They couldn't revive her. "Ms. Ernestine Blackman taught us how to use the radio in case of an emergency like an accident," said Larry. One girl handed him the microphone on the bus radio, found the squelch in the volume, and he called for help, explaining what happened. Someone answered and asked if any children were hurt. Tom said no but Ernestine was in bad condition. He asked how they stopped the bus and they all started shouting, "Larry did it, Larry did it!" Tom asked, "Where's Larry?" Larry popped up and said, "I'm right here." "I said to myself, 'Somebody's gotta do something or all hope is lost and everybody's going to die,'" said Larry. The ambulance arrived. Jerrick was relieved that Larry had taken control. "At first, I thought a lot of people were going to stop the bus, but nobody did," he said. He was sad about what happened to Ernestine. She was taken to the local hospital, when it was determined that she had suffered a stroke. Lawrence Champagne couldn't be prouder of Larry. "Larry and I from time to time work together on my old vehicles. I got two old trucks and he's familiar enough that he knows a brake is supposed to stop something. He believes he has a tremendous amount of knowledge at his age so he feels comfortable with taking action doing those things," he said. Larry got an award for his heroism. He was also named honorary ball boy at a St. Louis Rams game. Tom is also grateful for what Larry did to save his schoolmates and Ernestine. He doesn't want to call him a kid. A month has passed. Doctors expect Ernestine to make a complete recovery. "I always try to teach the children bus safety because it's important for them to know how to use the radio, stop and evacuate the bus," she said. "I'm grateful to Larry for what he had done because had it not been for him, I could've lost my life." The other kids could've lost their lives too. Larry hopes that Ernestine will get back to driving the bus again soon. "I am very proud of Larry," said Dawn. Larry feels that his father found out from Heaven that he risked his life to do what had to be done. Category:1995 Category:Missouri Category:Kid Heroes Category:Runaway Vehicles Category:Motor-Vehicle Accidents